It is possible some of the horses were either ridden by King Henry VIII or at least in tournaments he ran and competed in.
King Henry VIII, arguably the most famous of the Tudor monarchs, was a keen and skilled jouster in his youth before an accident at Greenwich in his 40s led to a serious accident and ended his jousting career, as well as leading to an ulcerous leg wound that would render him immobile for the rest of his life.
His obesity and foul temper are often attributed to this accident, which saw him knocked unconscious for two hours.
But in 1511 he held a two–day long jousting tournament at the Westminster site to celebrate the birth of Henry Duke of Cornwall, to Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. The son and heir would tragically die just ten days later.
The horses found at the Westminster site range from the 14th century to the 16th century. It is even possible they featured in jousting tournaments and may have been ridden my nobility and the Royal family.
“Horses were imported from abroad earlier in the Middle Ages but it was taken to a new level/greatly intensified in the Tudor period because of a lack of high–quality domestic mounts,” study author Prof Oliver Creighton, an archaeologist at Exeter, told The Telegraph.
“We know for sure that royals and other elite members of society jousted at Westminster.”
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
